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Twitterrific today updated its Twitter clients for iOS and Mac devices to implement some changes to the way the service works ahead of upcoming API changes that will go live on August 16, 2018.
Starting on that date, Twitterrific says that its iOS app will no longer be able to receive and display native notifications. Users will not be notified when someone likes their tweet, quotes a tweet, replies to their tweet, sends a direct message, retweets, or follows them.
As a result, Twitterrific's Today center widget and Apple Watch app, which rely on these features, are being retired.
Users will continue to receive push notifications until August 16, but after that date, the feature will vanish. Twitterrific is removing the Push Notification in-app purchase for new users.
Twitter's upcoming changes also remove live streaming for third-party apps on both iOS and Mac, which will impact how Twitterrific works. Once the API is dismantled, tweets and direct messages will be delayed by a minute or two.
As of today's update, Twitterrific says the apps will still attempt to live stream tweets, but will revert to refreshing every two minutes if it is unable to connect to a live stream. Live streaming will also continue to be available until August 2018.In most use cases you probably won't notice the difference, except in cases like live events or with popular searches that update frequently. On the plus side, this change means that Lists can finally auto-refresh themselves like other timelines - something that had been sorely missing for a long time.For users who want

Twitter today announced several changes to the desktop and mobile Twitter experience to make relevant breaking news, events, and stories easier to discover.
Going forward, the Explore section of Twitter will be organized using topic tags so users can more quickly see what's happening in news and entertainment and what's most relevant to them.
Twitter is also improving search with related news, events, or stories that are listed at the top of search results when you search for something.
Twitter's "Happening now" timeline that was introduced last year for sports is being expanded to include breaking and personalized news, with Twitter offering up personalized news offerings at the top of your timeline.
Notifications are also being expanded to include news based on user interest in addition to breaking news. These notifications can be toggled off by going to the recommendations section of Twitter's settings.
As for Moments, the feature that aggregates trending news stories and relevant happenings, Twitter is organizing it into a vertical display like the Twitter timeline, rather than a horizontal orientation.
For some Moments in the United States, Twitter is implementing multiple timelines, which are designed to help users see all of the best tweets surrounding a story. These timelines will include a recap showing tweets you may have missed, a collection of the latest tweets, and top commentary.
For the World Cup, which kicks off tomorrow, Twitter has also introduced a dedicated World Cup page that will be available at the top of the timeline on

Twitter is testing a new "Data saver" toggle on iOS devices, as one user shared on the social media platform this morning. For users in the test, the data saver setting is housed at the very bottom of the left-handed profile menu, which you can access by swiping left-to-right on your main Twitter timeline in the iOS app.
When toggled on, the mode prevents videos from autoplaying when scrolling through tweets, and lower-quality images load instead of automatically choosing high-quality images. The toggle affects all accounts linked within the iOS app on an iPhone or iPad, helping to reduce data usage on cellular connections and in turn preventing you from going over the allotted monthly data cap on your phone bill.
Data saver test (left) vs current Twitter app for iOS (right)
@Twitter Data Saver mode coming to iOS @MacRumors @iDownloadBlog @verge pic.twitter.com/tHAPNyySfQ— Ravi Lakra (@iamRaviLakra) May 25, 2018
Tweets about the toggle span multiple countries since earlier in the spring, so it appears Twitter has been testing the dedicated mode for a few weeks now.
Twitter's iOS app currently lets you toggle off video autoplay and high-quality videos, or set them to load only on Wi-Fi, but the settings are stored in "Settings and privacy" > "Data usage." It appears that the social media company is testing out a way for data saver functionality to be more at-hand and quicker to access with one toggle on the app's frontend menu.
Twitter users also have the option of using Twitter Lite on iOS, Android, and other smartphones. Lite loads Twitter on the mobile

Twitter today unveiled new details on its upcoming activity API changes, which will affect how third-party apps are able to access Twitter APIs and provide services to Twitter users who prefer to use apps like Twitterrific and Tweetbot.
Third-party Twitter app developers will be required to purchase a Premium or Enterprise Account Activity API package to access a full set of activities related to a Twitter account including Tweets, @mentions, Replies, Retweets, Quote Tweets, Retweets of Quoted Tweets, Likes, Direct Messages Sent, Direct Messages Received, Follows, Blocks, Mutes, typing indicators, and read receipts.
Premium API access, which provides access to up to 250 accounts, is priced at $2,899 per month, while enterprise access is more expensive, with pricing quotes available from Twitter following an application for an enterprise account.
At least some third-party apps have said they will not be able to afford access to the new Twitter APIs, including Twitterrific.
It’s looking like it won’t be financially possible for us to afford the new account activity API from twitter.— Sean Heber (@BigZaphod) May 16, 2018
These APIs also will not include access to streaming connections, which Twitter says are used by only 1 percent of monthly active apps.
There’s no streaming connection capability as is used by only 1% of monthly active apps. Also there's no home timeline data. We have no plans to add that data to Account Activity API or create a new streaming service. However, home timeline data remains accessible via REST API.— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) May

Tapbots is today launching Tweetbot 3, a new and updated version of its popular Tweetbot for Mac app.
Tweetbot 3 features a revamped interface that was rewritten from the ground up for the Mac. Compared to Tweetbot 2, the new app features a cleaner interface with more white space, persistent icons for replying, retweeting, liking, profile options, and more, and an overall cleaner look.
With the new timeline design, there are single-click tools for muting an account, blocking an account, or filing a report with Twitter so there is no need to go to a person's profile or open a profile in Safari to perform these tasks.
When viewing details for a particular tweet, there are now persistent icons that enable one-click replies, retweets, and likes for existing replies without needing to hover over the tweet.
At the left side of the app, there's a collapsible side bar that offers easier access to your follower count, lists, direct message conversations, and profile options. While the bar is expanded by default, pulling it to the left will collapse it back down so it's similar to the current Tweetbot 2 interface.
The new one-click button for composing a tweet is now located at the bottom right of the app rather than the top right, and it offers quick access to images, location, and emojis. Mentions and Activity notifications have been merged into one single "Notifications" tab, but there's still an option to view these separately if so desired.
It's much easier to work with multiple columns in the new version of the app. Rather than clicking and choosing "open

Twitter is testing a new feature for its mobile apps called "Secret conversation," which would allow users to send direct messages that are encrypted (via TechCrunch). The end-to-end encryption would put Twitter's messaging platform on the level of apps like Telegram or WhatsApp, ensuring that a conversation between users is only ever seen by those sending the messages and not a surveilling third party.
The Secret DM feature for Twitter was found within the Android application package by Jane Manchun Wong, and it includes "Encryption settings," details about what encrypted messages are, and Encryption keys to verify a secure conversation between you and the message's recipient. Wong also found that users will soon be able to quote tweets with GIFs and place a "Quality Filter" on search results.
Image via @wongmjane
"Secret conversations" is the same name used by Facebook Messenger's own end-to-end encrypted messaging feature, which completed a rollout in October 2016. At the time, Facebook said Messenger supports the Signal Protocol to encrypt its messages, the same cryptographic protocol that WhatsApp and Google Allo also use.
As TechCrunch pointed out, APKs typically include code for features that companies are testing or will be launching soon, but it's unclear when exactly Twitter's encrypted messaging update will debut.
Last week, Twitter found a bug that "stored passwords unmasked in an internal log," and although no one appeared to have accessed the plaintext passwords it advised all users to update their own passwords "out of an abundance of

Twitter is suggesting that all Twitter users update their passwords following a glitch that exposed some passwords in plaintext on its internal network.
As outlined in a blog post, Twitter says that it recently found a bug that "stored passwords unmasked in an internal log." The bug was fixed, and an internal investigation shows that there was no breach or misuse.We mask passwords through a process called hashing using a function known as bcrypt, which replaces the actual password with a random set of numbers and letters that are stored in Twitter's system. This allows our systems to validate your account credentials without revealing your password. This is an industry standard.
Due to a bug, passwords were written to an internal log before completing the hashing process. We found this error ourselves, removed the passwords, and are implementing plans to prevent this bug from happening again.Despite the fact that no one appears to have accessed the plaintext passwords, Twitter is recommending that all users "consider" changing their passwords "out of an abundance of caution" both on Twitter and on any other site where the same password was used.
If you're a Twitter user, you can change your password on the web by accessing your Twitter settings and selecting the password option. You will need to enter a current password and then choose a new one. In the Twitter iOS app, you'll need to sign out to initiate a password change.
Using a unique password for every login is the best way to make sure you stay secure in the event of a data breach, something best

Twitter has updated the way its main timeline treats trending news stories, so that tweets from users linking the same story get grouped together (via BuzzFeed).
The change means users will now see a banner at the top of their feed that lists links to a particular story from people they follow, and should prevent users from seeing multiple shared links to the same story in their timeline.
The update represents the latest move in an ongoing strategy to make the social media platform more news-centric, with recent experiments focusing on algorithmically curated timelines for major events, combining news reports with tweets by the public.
Image via BuzzFeed
Twitter has also been testing a "camera-first" feature that's designed to put more emphasis on video and images. The feature combines location-based photos and videos with Twitter Moments around notable events, with companies able to sponsor events or put ads between tweets.
Twitter already shows live news broadcasts in a live-streaming window next to its timeline during major breaking news events. In 2016, the app also got moved to the News category in the App Store to highlight the change in direction for the

Twitter is making changes to its API on June 19, and third-party Twitter clients are worried about the impact and Twitter's lack of communication about the issue.
The developers behind popular third-party Twitter apps that include Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Talon, and Tweetings today teamed up to warn users about the upcoming changes and to hopefully spur Twitter to action.
On June 19, Twitter plans to remove several streaming service APIs that are used by third-party apps. Disabling these APIs will prevent third-party Twitter apps from sending push notifications and refreshing Twitter timelines automatically.If you use an app like Talon, Tweetbot, Tweetings, or Twitterrific, there is no way for its developer to fix these issues.
We are incredibly eager to update our apps. However, despite many requests for clarification and guidance, Twitter has not provided a way for us to recreate the lost functionality. We've been waiting for more than a year.Twitter is replacing its current streaming APIs with a new Account Activity API, which is in beta testing, but third-party developers have not been given access. With access to the Account Activity APIs, third-party Twitter clients say they might be able to enable some push notifications, but Twitter has also provided no detail on pricing. Automatic refresh of the timeline is set to be disabled entirely.Automatic refresh of your timeline just won't work: there is no web server on your mobile device or desktop computer that Twitter can contact with updates. Since updating your timeline with other methods is rate-limited by

Twitter this week updated its iOS and Android apps with a new feature called "Timestamps," which the company said will make it easier to share brief moments from longer live videos.
Previously, Twitter users had to direct their followers to specific time codes in a live video so that people knew which moment they were referring to. The Timestamps update is a direct response to that, according to product lead for Periscope Mike Folgner.
Now, when users tap the share sheet extension on a live video, Twitter displays a playback track that they can scrub through to find the exact moment they want their followers to watch. Then they can tap the "new tweet" button, type in any commentary on the video clip, and press "tweet." The clips can also be sent via direct message or copied and shared through a link.
So, we built Timestamps which lets anyone Tweet a live or replay video starting from the exact moment they want to discuss.
People have always used Twitter to talk about the things they experience. With Timestamps, now we can show rather than just tell everyone what’s happening. People who see the tweet will be able to watch the specific moment shared within, and if the broadcast is still live they can skip forward in time by tapping "live." Folgner said the feature is available across all live videos, "whether from a professional content publisher or someone broadcasting from their phone."
🚀📣 Really excited to launch Timestamps, an easy way to point people to the part within a live video that matters most. pic.twitter.com/ECsyXH9Xzm— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) Mar

Twitter is working on several new features for its social networking platform, according to reports shared today by CNBC and BuzzFeed.
Twitter is experimenting with algorithmically curated timelines for major news events that will be shown to Twitter users at the top of their main Twitter feeds, a Twitter spokesperson told BuzzFeed this morning. The feature is an extension of "Happening Now," which has previously only highlighted sports-related tweets.
Image via BuzzFeed
On Wednesday, Twitter began surfacing curated tweets surrounding major news events, including the congressional special election in Pennsylvania and the death of Stephen Hawking. Tweets included those from both news organizations and people who are not news professionals."People come to Twitter to see and talk about what's happening. We're working on ways to make it easier for everyone to find relevant news and the surrounding conversation so they can stay informed about what matters to them," Twitter product VP Keith Coleman told BuzzFeed News in a statement.Twitter plans to promote curated timelines at the top of the main feed using a banner, and when the banner is tapped, it will bring up Twitter's curated timeline of the event. Currently, a small number of iOS and Android users are able to see the new timeline feature.
Separately, CNBC says Twitter is working on a "camera-first" feature that's designed to put more emphasis on video and images. The new functionality combines location-based photos and videos with Twitter Moments around notable events, with companies able to sponsor events or

Twitter today announced the official launch of a new Bookmarks feature, which is designed to allow Twitter users to save tweets for later access.
All tweets now feature an updated "share" icon that's used for both bookmarking and sharing tweets, and Twitter says the share icon is meant to make it easier to save and share privately or publicly.
Bookmarking a tweet to save it for later can be done by tapping the share icon under a tweet and then choosing the "Add Tweet to Bookmarks" option. All saved tweets are located under the "Bookmarks" option that can be accessed from a person's profile icon menu.
Found something historic?Don’t want to forget a joke?Article that you want to read later?Save the Tweet with Bookmarks, and come back to it whenever you want. Only you can see your Bookmarks. pic.twitter.com/fM2QLcOYNF— Twitter (@Twitter) February 28, 2018
Twitter Bookmarks are private, so no one can see which tweets have been bookmarked, unlike the "Like" option, which, prior to Bookmarks, has been a preferred method of preserving tweets.
The new Bookmarks feature was first introduced in October and was developed as part of a company-wide Hack Week. Ahead of the debut of Bookmarks, Twitter shared regular details on its development.
Twitter says Bookmarks are now rolling out globally on Twitter for iOS and Android, Twitter Lite, and

Third-party Twitter client "Twitterrific" has dropped the price of the latest Mac app -- Twitterrific 5 for Mac [Direct Link] -- to $7.99, down from $19.99. The new price tag marks the lowest that Iconfactory's app has ever been on the Mac App Store, and follows a 50 percent discount to $9.99 that emerged in December 2017.
Twitterrific's sale for Mac appeared over the weekend on February 17, the day after Twitter announced it would officially stop supporting the main Twitter for Mac app. Twitter said that it plans to focus its attention on a "great Twitter experience that's consistent across all platforms," confirming that the Mac app wasn't on the company's list of priorities. Beginning last Friday, Twitter for Mac is no longer available to download, and within the next month the company will stop supporting it completely.
While Twitter guided users to the social network's desktop website for the "full Twitter experience on Mac," Twitterrific is now a cheaper alternative for those looking for an app to browse Twitter on a Mac. Twitterrific presents Tweets as they were originally seen on the social network, in a chronological order that filters out other extraneous content, like which Tweets your followers like.
Twitterrific 5 also syncs your timelines across devices (including iPhone and iPad), supports mute filters, has multiple font and text size options, integrates with the Voice Over accessibility feature, and more.
Re-imagined from the ground up to be the Mac's most friendly, powerful and modern Twitter client. Twitterrific makes Twitter fun.

Twitter is "experimenting" with a new update to its mobile iOS and Android apps that is said to make it easier for users to share videos and photos on the social network.
According to people familiar with the matter, speaking with Bloomberg, the update is still in an early testing phase and could "change significantly" over the next few months, but comes at a time when Twitter is looking to attract more users and convince current users to stick around. The exact design of the update wasn't specified, but Twitter is said to have a working demo of a "camera-centered" update that will "entice people" to quickly and easily post video clips of what's happening near them.
The current method of accessing the camera to post photos and videos on Twitter for iOS
Bloomberg compared the description of the camera feature to Snapchat's mobile apps, which open to the camera first so users can quickly take snaps. In 2016, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted that the network can be confusing to newcomers and called Snapchat "very modern." To be clear, it doesn't appear that Twitter aims to launch "Twitter Stories," but is simply looking to rearrange its app in a way that allows for more prominent placement of the camera.
Twitter Inc. is working on a new Snapchat-style feature that makes it easier to post videos on the social-media company’s app, according to people familiar with the matter, aiming to attract more users and cement a nascent turnaround.
Social-media leader Facebook Inc. has famously copied innovations from Snap Inc.’s Snapchat, a mobile app focused on ephemeral

Twitter has rebuffed claims by a conservative media outlet that its staff monitor users' private data, including direct messages sent over the social network (via TechCrunch).
Earlier this week, Project Veritas, which hosts sting operation-style videos produced by self-proclaimed "guerrilla journalist" James O'Keefe, posted footage that appears to show Twitter engineers admitting that teams of employees access users' data.
In one brief clip, a senior network security engineer appears to say that the social media company would be able hand over President Donald Trump's data, including deleted tweets and direct messages, to the Department of Justice, subject to a subpoena.
Last week, Twitter criticized Project Veritas in a public statement for its "deceptive" and "selectively edited" report.
We deplore the deceptive and underhanded tactics by which this footage was obtained and selectively edited to fit a pre-determined narrative. Twitter only responds to valid legal requests and does not share any user information with law enforcement without such a request.Referencing its privacy policies and terms of service which explain how it holds and stores information that users choose to share, Twitter said it is "committed to enforcing our rules without bias and empowering every voice on our platform, in accordance with the Twitter Rules".
Project Veritas has been criticized in the past for using underhand and deceitful methods in its investigations. In November last year, one of its undercover employees was caught trying to bait reporters at The Washington Post by

Twitter today announced the launch of a new "Threads" feature, which is designed to link multiple tweets together to make them easier to read.
Twitter users often share multiple numbered tweets on a topic or idea, and this practice is generally referred to as a "tweetstorm." With Threads, two or more tweets can be linked, simplifying and streamlining the tweetstorm concept.
When you create a tweet on Twitter, you can use the "+" button to add more tweets to the original tweet in the compose window. All of your tweets can be drafted ahead of time and then sent out at once using the new "Tweet All" button.
Tweets can also be added to a published thread using the "Add Another Tweet" button, and when browsing Twitter, there's a new "Show this thread" label that makes it easier to find a series of linked tweets.
Twitter says that the new Threads feature is designed for people who want to serialize a longer story or thought or provide ongoing commentary on a particular event or topic.
Threads is the second major change that's been made to Twitter in recent weeks, following a decision to increase the character limit from 140 to 280 characters to give Twitter users more room to express themselves.
Twitter says the new Threads feature is rolling out to iOS, Android, and the web "in the coming

Just a day after Twitter officially rolled out support for its new 280-character limit for tweets, popular third-party Twitter client Tweetbot has been updated with support for the new feature.
Tweetbot users who have Tweetbot for iOS installed will now be able to take full advantage of the new character limit once the app update has been installed. Tweetbot has not yet updated Tweetbot for Mac with support for the new feature, but an update should be coming soon.
Twitter started testing the new 280-character limit in late September before rolling it out globally yesterday. The updated character limit is available for all languages with the exception of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, as those are not affected by what Twitter calls "cramming."
According to Twitter, during the testing period, most people with access to the 280 character limit continued to share tweets that featured under 140 characters, so the company does not believe the new limit will "substantially change" timelines for most users.
Right now, since the feature is new, there is an uptick in the number of people testing the 280-character limit, but Twitter believes that will die down within a couple of weeks.
Tweetbot can be downloaded from the App Store for $4.99. [Direct Link]
Update: Tweetbot for Mac has also been updated with support for the new 280-character

Twitter today announced that the 280 character limit for tweets that it introduced back in September is being rolled out to all Twitter users. The new 280 character limit, which doubles the existing 140-character limit, is available for all users and is being implemented for all languages where "cramming" was a problem.
Tweet with traditional 140-character limit on left, new 280-character limit on right. In September, we launched a test that expanded the 140 character limit so every person around the world could express themselves easily in a Tweet. Our goal was to make this possible while ensuring we keep the speed and brevity that makes Twitter, Twitter. Looking at all the data, we're excited to share we've achieved this goal and are rolling the change out to all languages where cramming was an issue.Twitter said that it noticed people who were using Twitter in English would hit the character limit more often than tweets in languages like Chinese and Japanese, which is why the company ultimately decided to raise the character limit. The changes are rolling out to all languages except for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese.
According to Twitter's analytics, most people with access to the 280 character limit continued to share tweets that featured under 140 characters, leaving the "brevity of Twitter" intact.
Only 5 percent of tweets sent out were longer than 140 characters, and only 2 percent were longer than 190 characters, so Twitter believes the new character limit should not "substantially change" timelines for most users.
280-character tweets have been limited

Twitter today announced an update for its tvOS app, which allows you to pair your Twitter account on an iPhone or iPad with an Apple TV, and easily access Tweets on your iOS device that you see scroll by on the TV app's live feeds.
The Twitter app for Apple TV focuses on live-streaming video, which you can display simultaneously with a scrolling list of user Tweets in a split-screen mode. Since it's difficult to engage with Tweets on the TV app, the new update lets you jump directly from a Tweet on the Apple TV to your iPhone or iPad without having to search for a specific Tweet.
All you need to do is make sure your iOS device is on the same Wi-Fi network as your Apple TV, then open Twitter for Apple TV and long press for three seconds on the Siri Remote. This will bring up a menu where you can link your iOS device to the Apple TV Twitter app.
From Twitter TV product manager Ryan Troy: “People love to Tweet while watching their favorite TV shows because it allows everyone to experience what’s happening together. This update combined with Twitter’s daily programming that’s shaped by Tweets from the audience helps enable true interactive TV.” Afterwards, you'll be able to send any Tweet that you see on the live timeline on Apple TV to your iPhone, where you can quickly reply, like, Retweet, and send an image or a GIF. Twitter said the feature will work with any of the Apple TV app's live broadcasts, which cover sports, entertainment broadcasts, and other live events.
📱 + 📺 = 💙Connect your Apple devices and Tweet while you watch! Update to the latest Twitter app

Twitter today announced the addition of a new "Happening Now" feature that is designed to surface customized recommendations for tweets about a particular topic or event that's going on in the world.
Events are displayed at the top of the Twitter timeline in the Twitter app, and clicking on one of the available events displays a list of tweets that are grouped up by event.
Twitter is rolling out the Happening Now feature for sports-related events to start with, but it will expand to other types of content in the future. It will eventually highlight tweets about live video, TV, and breaking news.
Feel the roar of the crowd, no matter where you are.We're rolling out a new way to see what's happening now, starting with sports in 🇺🇸! Available on Android and iOS starting today. https://t.co/lmBFCK4DG0 pic.twitter.com/cv4wL8hCxA— Twitter (@Twitter) October 10, 2017
Happening Now joins other tools to surface non-timeline tweets like Moments and Explore. In a statement to BuzzFeed News, a Twitter spokesperson said the feature is meant to make it easier to find conversations about events users are interested in."There's so much happening on Twitter all the time, but it could be easier to find events you are interested in, and the conversation around those events, in the moment," the spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. "If we know you are a Giants fan, we can guess you'd love to see the conversation specifically around a game. All this content already exists on Twitter - with Happening Now, we're collecting it and making it simpler for you to find it in one place."Happenin

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